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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word from the word bank in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

Word bank: leaves · prune · ground · fall · present · stick · pop · cold

  1. Do not ________________ roses in the fall.
  2. Add some ________________ pepper to it.
  3. In the ________________, covers are put over the fans in trains.
  4. This is the first time I've ever walked with a ________________.
  5. The water is too ________________.
  6. There's no middle ________________.
  7. My partner was ________________ at the birth of our baby.
  8. A ________________ is just a dried plum.
  9. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  10. Actually, the ________________ method has plenty of room for improvement.
  11. My stomach aches so much that I can't ________________ asleep.
  12. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  13. Fiction is obliged to ________________ to possibilities. Truth isn't.
  14. He who climbs up, will ________________ down.
  15. Speak softly and carry a big ________________.
  16. The train ________________ at six o'clock.
  17. The ________________ change colour in autumn.
  18. Did you get a birthday ________________ for him this year?
  19. Michael Jackson and Prince changed the history of ________________ music.
  20. We're almost out of ________________.
  21. I cannot ________________ this tree. It's too high.
  22. The ________________ was covered with snow, as far as the eye could see.
  23. You don't need to ________________ round.
  24. He always ________________ the window open while he sleeps.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. prune — to trim
  2. ground — crushed
  3. fall — the season
  4. stick — a piece of wood
  5. cold — not warm
  6. ground — a position
  7. present — there
  8. prune — the fruit
  9. cold — the Cold War
  10. present — the time now
  11. fall — to drop
  12. cold — an illness
  13. stick — to attach or keep to
  14. fall — to drop
  15. stick — a piece of wood
  16. leaves — to go away
  17. leaves — of a tree
  18. present — a gift
  19. pop — music
  20. pop — soda
  21. prune — to trim
  22. ground — the earth
  23. pop — to visit
  24. leaves — lets stay

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com